Turning the Odometer Over Again

I’ve just taken my new mystery project over 50,000 words, and since I intended this to be a shorter piece than my last two, that means I’ll have first draft soon. Then the revision begins. I already have targets in mind, but I’m sure more will arise when I read material out loud, stumble over a line, and think I didn’t really write that did I?

Because I’ve been busy with the play, the book, and the riff for Yor the Hunter From the Future, I haven’t had tons of time to blog or much I felt worthy of a full post, so I thought I’d give you a sampling of what I’ve been pondering recently.

First, here’s me and Casey talking Yor, and a lot of other bad movie related stuff.

Next, we apparently have Ted Cruz running for president. I find this inspiring, in a way. Here’s a man unwilling to let the limitations of being universally considered an asshole stand in his way of pursuing higher office. For those wondering how such an impacted wisdom tooth of a human being managed to get so far, you have to remember that he’s from Texas, where being an unbearable person is the minimum qualification for ballot access. Not sure how that will play in the non-Texas world.

Next, we have the (sort-of, possible) conclusion of Amanda Knox’s legal case in Italy this week. My Twitter pal Nina Burleigh has the cover article in Newsweek about it. She expects the Italian Supreme Court to uphold the conviction–mainly because the same court essentially ordered the lower court to go through the motions of a trial but return a conviction three years ago–but doesn’t expect the Italian government to demand her extradition (or the U.S. government to grant it if they did.) Read about it for yourself. The only thing I’d add is that if the Italian government decides not to pursue extradition, which would be an (understandable) no-confidence vote on their justice system’s handling of the case, the Italian President should strongly consider pardoning both Knox and her co-defendant, Sollecito. It would save Sollecito undeserved prison time, and it would spare Italy the embarrassment of a potential pasting when the European Court of Human Rights takes up the appeal.

British readers will get the most out of this, but here’s a preview from Gemma Arrowsmith’s show “Everything That’s Wrong With the Universe”. I like her work a lot and hope to see more of it where I can see it live. (Or I hope to make a lot of money so I can go where she is and see her work live. If enough of you would buy my books, that could happen. Just sayin’.)

The last thing on my mind tonight is Jimmy Connors’s 1991 run at the U.S. Open. Netflix has a 30 for 30 documentary on it called “This Is What They Want” that reveals both the background of the run, and of Connors’s complicated, and often difficult, relationships with tennis players and fans. Check it out.